Toups' Meatery opens in Mid City

Toups' Meatery served its first "Meatery Board" Tuesday.
If Isaac Toups, who opened the Mid City restaurant with his wife and partner
Amanda Toups, got his wish, the selection of house-cured meats and condiments
was widely shared among the diners who ordered it.

Dinah Rogers / The Times-PicayuneIsaac Toups in 2010, when he was executive chef at Cuvee

"In my family, you shared everything," the chef said. "I
wanted to sort of bring that concept here, so we have a lot of things to share.
I got the Meatery Board, the veggie board, a stuffed artichoke."

The restaurant - which obtained its liquor license Thursday - even offers pitchers of cocktails to share, Bloody Marys and mint juleps
among them.

Toups, a Times-Picayune Chef to Watch in 2010, when he
was still at Cuvee, had always
imagined he would open a restaurant of his own, dating back to the decade he spent
working in the kitchens of Emeril Lagasse's New Orleans restaurants. Meatery,
which took over the old Mediterranean Café space at 845 North Carrollton
Avenue, is his first.

"It's always been a goal in the back of my mind," Toups said
of becoming a restaurateur. "Even as a cook, I would always go, 'I want to have
my own place.' It really came to fruition after Cuvee, where I was like, 'Why
am I busting my hump to make other people money and take the credit?'"

Meatery's entrees run from $10 to $23 and include lamb neck
with mint chow chow, confit chicken thighs in gizzard gravy and a Cajun
pastrami sandwich with Raclette cheese and pickled cabbage on Pullman bread. The casual restaurant is
open for lunch and dinner, Tuesday through Saturday.